Chapter 305: Six Hundred Dan

On a deep-winter night, amid gusting winds and waves on Pengli Marsh, over ten vessels lay moored. Under Zhao Tuo's orders, they beat no drums and sounded no horns, raised no battle flags, but instead furled their sails and quietly hid themselves within the night's curtain.

Standing at the unsteady gunwale, gazing at Pengze Town, whose faint firelight glimmered several li away, Zhao Tuo's expression was rather grim.

Zhao Tuo's body was now extremely weak. That bowl of chicken-blood wine he had drunk together with Heifu and Wu Rui had nearly cost him his life. On the first day of the return journey, he had felt a violent pain in his stomach, followed by vomiting and diarrhea...

"Could it be that the Yue people put gu poison in the chicken-blood wine?" Zhao Tuo's subordinates were deeply worried.

In the eyes of the Central Plains people, the Yue were savages living in the southern waters, marshes, mountains, and forests, who worshipped shamans and ghosts, and even reared snakes and insects as gu to poison others. So now, seeing Zhao Tuo unwell, they immediately grew tense and jittery.

Zhao Tuo, for his part, thought that the bowl of chicken-blood wine had been prepared by Heifu's men, and the Yue people had had no chance to poison it. It was probably just the raw blood upsetting his stomach.

Just at that moment, they received an urgent report sent by water from Pengze: The Lord of Poyang had attacked Pengze with a surprise force!

Ordering men to speed this news to Commander Heifu at once, Zhao Tuo also commanded the fleet to hoist full sail, all hands to the oars, and race back at top speed!

"Five Hundred Lord, should we not wait here for the Commander's order?" a subordinate hesitated.

Though Zhao Tuo's body was so weak he could not even lift a sword, his mind was very clear.

"Pengze is in peril; the city may fall at any moment. To send word to the Commander will likely take two days, and to return here another two. If I wait here idly, Pengze will already be lost! Better to race back, scout the enemy situation in detail, and then make plans. When the time comes, we can return to meet the Commander, and it will still be in time."

After dismissing his men back to their respective ships, Zhao Tuo thought to himself: "The Commander did not disdain Zhao Tuo's low rank and title, and swore brotherhood with me — this is a tremendous honor for Zhao Tuo. But I saw that his subordinates, Gong Ao, Dongmen Bao, and others, looked rather unconvinced. This is exactly my chance to prove myself! How can I let it slip?"

And so, traveling at full speed, the party reached the lake surface beside Pengze Town at dusk on the third day of the twelfth month. From afar, they saw that the Pengze docks had been burned again, and that over a hundred Chu men stood guard along the shore, keeping constant watch on the lake's movements.

Zhao Tuo therefore ordered his men to keep sailing forward and hide near Little Lone Mountain on the northern shore.

The platoon leaders under Zhao Tuo — who were, in fact, the ship captains — came one after another to the tower ship to report to him the enemy situation they had observed from their vessels.

"The docks have been burned, but the city has not yet fallen. The Qin army's black flags still fly."

"The Chu men are more numerous than expected, roughly a thousand. Flying the Lord of Poyang's banner, they have seized the village lanes south of Pengze as their camp and besieged two corners of the city. Right now, their campfires are blazing bright."

"Three hundred men are defending the shore, likely fearing that the main army might return by water."

"Five Hundred Lord, what should we do now?"

Everyone looked at Zhao Tuo. According to their thinking, after scouting the enemy situation, the prudent course was to speed back to Heifu and bring the main army back.

"Once the Commander learns Pengze is under attack, he will probably abandon the assault on Poyang and return to the southern shore of Pengli."

Zhao Tuo pondered, then shook his head. "Knowing the Commander as I do, he will never give up halfway!"

Zhao Tuo had also read a few military texts. He understood that the army marching south was like a crossbow drawn full of power — it had to be released. To pull it back now would not only damage morale, but would also make the grand, high-profile alliance with the Gan-Yue people a laughingstock.

So Heifu was unlikely to come back. Lifting the siege of Pengze would still depend on Zhao Tuo and his men.

A smile appeared on his face. "'The torrential rush of water, swift enough to roll boulders — that is momentum. The diving strike of a hawk, swift enough to snap its prey — that is timing.'"

"The Lord of Poyang thinks that by launching a surprise force, he has left the Commander in a dilemma. But are we not also a surprise force?"

"We?" The men looked at one another, somewhat lacking in confidence.

"We are only tower-ship marines. On the water, we can gallop for a time, but on land we hold no advantage."

Zhao Tuo, however, had his own ideas. He grew solemn, looked at the men, and spoke with resounding conviction: "The Wu people are skilled on water, yet when they sailed up the Huai, they could match the Chu chariot troops on land and fought five battles to enter Ying. Who says tower-ship marines cannot go ashore?"

His subordinates asked again: "Even if the Five Hundred Lord wishes to strike the enemy from both within and without together with the Pengze garrison, where shall we land? The docks are burned, and the Chu men have posted three hundred men to guard the shore where small boats can make landfall."

Zhao Tuo did not answer at first, but walked straight out of the cabin.

They were near Little Lone Mountain, close to the northern shore. Zhao Tuo looked toward the pitch-black southern shore of the great river and pointed at a spot surrounded by water on three sides, without a single glimmer of light. "Penglang Bluff!"

Hearing that name, every man's face changed color dramatically. They all thought the Five Hundred Lord Zhao had gone mad...

In the early morning hours, under the cover of the howling wind and waves, small boat after small boat rowed from the depths of the lake toward the southern shore. Over ten oar blades struck the water simultaneously, their edges churning the lake and slicing open ripples.

Without a dock, large ships could not reach the shore. They could only rely on small oared boats, sneaking furtively closer.

Zhao Tuo crouched in the first boat. His stomach had not yet recovered; now it felt as if it were tied in knots, waves of stabbing pain hitting him — he did not know if it was the lingering effect of the diarrhea or from tension.

He was tense not only because the enemy outnumbered his own men, and because his side might be discovered by the enemy troops guarding the shore, but also because of the waters they were about to enter.

Two li ahead, the moon outlined a pitch-black cliff. That was Penglang Bluff.

Penglang Bluff was a bizarre rock formation jutting into the river, facing the current on three sides, blocking the wind and checking the waves, where the breakers surged and roared. The locals said: "When a boat passes the bluff, even without wind, the waves still swell — hence the name."

Zhao Tuo turned his head and saw the tower ships and assault vessels gradually shrinking behind him. By the time they had nearly vanished from sight, Penglang Bluff was also close at hand.

A chaotic wind blew from the northern shore, and the current beat against the hull. The soldiers, lips pressed tight, rowed with all their might, their hearts in their throats, terrified that the next moment they might accidentally strike a hidden reef and be destroyed, men and boat alike. The river water in the twelfth month was bone-chillingly cold and could swiftly steal a person's body heat. Even for tower-ship marines, once in the water, it was very hard to swim back to shore.

"Thankfully, during this month of occupying Pengze, I have not been idle."

Zhao Tuo inwardly exclaimed at his good fortune. He had ordered men to thoroughly scout the nearby terrain and water conditions, and had even had a local old fisherman take him to the top of Penglang Bluff to gaze out at the northern shore.

Now, all of this had become their advantage.

The shore was a tangled mass of rocks, but at this very moment, the tide was rising, so the ten-odd small boats safely passed through the most dangerous area, their bows rushing onto the rugged lakeshore of Penglang Bluff.

Treading through the frigid lake water, the soldiers skillfully dragged the small boats ashore and tied them up, then formed into two columns. Everyone's cheeks were flushed red by the cold wind of the twelfth month, and some even had long trails of snot hanging beneath their noses.

Although his title was Five Hundred Lord, in reality, Zhao Tuo had only a little over three hundred men under his command. Leaving behind those to guard the tower ships and assault vessels, only two hundred men went ashore with him to carry out this gamble.

Zhao Tuo directly used his sleeve to wipe away the snot for one young tower-ship marine, patted the somewhat nervous men, and laughed:

"If it were a daytime battle, we would not dare claim to be the best."

"But when it comes to night fighting, I fear no one dares to compete with tower-ship marines!"

Hearing this, everyone laughed in the cold wind. This was indeed the advantage of the tower-ship marines. The Qin army, composed mainly of farmers whose staple foods were millet and rice and who very rarely had meat as a side dish, often suffered from "sparrow-blindness," unable to see clearly at night. Even with the moon, they could see almost nothing and had difficulty moving.

The tower-ship marines, however, were different. They were selected from fishermen who lived along the water. Raised from childhood on crucian carp soup, and even in the army eating rice with fish stew, they had their vitamins replenished, so their symptoms of sparrow-blindness were relatively mild.

This kind of pitch-black night was indeed the perfect time for them to display their skills!

"After tonight, Zhao Tuo may perhaps prove worthy of being the Commander's sworn younger brother, and you men, too, shall achieve merit, establish your names, and win renown throughout the army!"

Zhao Tuo was young and not very eloquent, but he knew that the best way to inspire the men was to lead from the front.

So, ignoring the dull pain still lingering in his stomach, ignoring the cold wind pouring into his armor, he drew his sword and pointed toward Pengze City several li away, toward the camp of the Lord of Poyang.

The campfires over there had merged into the night sky, becoming vague specks in the distance, yet they gave them a rough direction to follow.

"Strike from within and without, annihilate the enemy, and then enter the city to eat a warm breakfast!"

The moon once again hid itself in the clouds, and all around was pitch-black. But in the eyes of the tower-ship marines, their Five Hundred Lord Zhao Tuo, at this very moment, seemed to emit a golden light, leading them forward!

……

"Ten days ago, Zhao Tuo led two hundred deck-soldiers ashore at Penglang Rock, striking the camp of the Lord of Poyang under cover of darkness. Inside the city, Xiao Tao saw the enemy camp catch fire and immediately led his men out to coordinate. The two forces struck from within and without, routing over a thousand Chu soldiers. By dawn the next day, the battle was over — over three hundred Chu dead, over two hundred fled, and the remaining five hundred all surrendered."

After informing his subordinates of the battle that had occurred ten days prior, Heifu set down the bamboo slip sent from Pengze and said with some self-satisfaction, "Well? My eye for people is still fairly accurate, isn't it?"

Dongmen Bao, Gong Ao, Ji Ying, and the others looked at one another. Overcoming a larger force with fewer men — they believed they could do that too. But leading men ashore in a stealth attack where the waves surged high and hidden reefs clustered thick — that took someone of great wisdom and great courage.

Their earlier resentment of Heifu's high regard for Zhao Tuo had mainly been because Zhao Tuo had never shown anything exceptional. But this time, they had no choice but to concede.

Xu Shu, hearing this, also breathed a sigh of relief and even smiled. "The convict laborers working the gold mine — we've got them now."

Heifu also had someone open a wooden box that had been delivered along with the message. Inside was a head, half the face burned away.

"This is the Lord of Poyang himself. He also died amidst the chaos of battle. Zhao Tuo made a point of sending his head here, hoping I could use it to overawe Poyang and shake the enemy's morale."

At this, Heifu rose and walked to the edge of the gate tower, watching the Qin soldiers tidying the battlefield and the bedraggled Chu captives. A smile broke across his face. "Zhao Tuo has shone brightly — and I, his sworn elder brother, haven't fallen behind either!"

Just the day before, after several days of assault, Wu Rui had led the Gan-Yue people through the water gate into Poyang. The Lord of E had led over a thousand men inside the city in stubborn resistance, but they could not withstand the high-morale Qin troops and were quickly defeated. After suffering a little over two hundred casualties, Heifu now had complete control of this, the largest city in Yuzhang!

In mid-December, the Lord of Poyang died at Pengze, and Poyang was also captured by Heifu. With that, the military campaign in northern Yuzhang came to an end. Heifu had Ji Ying deliver this good news separately to Commandant Li You, who was currently attacking Changsha, and to the newly established "Jiujiang Commandery" at Shouchun in Huainan.

By early January, Li You's orders were still on the road, but Jiujiang Commandery's reply arrived first.

"By the King's command, the lands of Yuzhang south of the Great River shall be placed under the jurisdiction of Jiujiang Commandery. The Poyang region will continue as a county, with Pengze and Yugan both as townships under its governance…"

Delivered along with it were a letter of appointment, a set of brand-new official robes, and a small bronze seal with a black cord…

Under the Qin system, every rank had a corresponding official seal. For example, the post Heifu had previously held, Clerk of the Left Section of the Army, was an unranked assistant clerk, equivalent to two hundred dan, so it only warranted a small unadorned seal. Officials above two hundred dan and below six hundred dan received bronze seals with yellow cords — Heifu had fallen into this category when he served as Left Commandant of Anlu County.

As for a bronze seal with a black cord, the cord bearing two colors — that marked a "high official" of equivalent rank to six hundred dan!

Sure enough, when he opened the letter of appointment, Heifu's name was written plainly upon it!

"Fifth Grandee Heifu, for his meritorious service in the southern campaign and conquest of territory, the Governor of Jiujiang Commandery hereby appoints him as Prefect of Poyang!"

(End of chapter)